


Blast Resistance

by Leopardmask



Series: Glitch AU: What Goes Around Comes Around [3]
Category: Hermitcraft
Genre: Death loop, Explosions, Gen, Glitch!AU, Glitches, Unintended Consequences, no beta we die like... well, non-permanent minecraft death, season 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:27:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29178693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leopardmask/pseuds/Leopardmask
Summary: Nobody’s perfect, even those who created the worlds. There are always flaws in the Great Code. Usually, they’re avoided, or ignored, and when the next update comes, those flaws are gone. Some, though, are exploited for Player benefit.With the most recent update, something about working with these glitches has changed. Work with them too long... and the world will start glitching you.Mumbo is all about efficiency. Farms that no one has to check up on or restock are a big plus, and he's learned a few tricks to make farms that do just that.
Series: Glitch AU: What Goes Around Comes Around [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2042692
Comments: 10
Kudos: 57





	Blast Resistance

Mumbo hummed tunelessly to himself as he crossed the Nethervoid to his gold farm. Which was totally better than Iskall’s, he might add. And it would get even better with the new addition he was planning: an automatic basalt farm that could run simultaneously while he was in the area. He had run through some designs while entranced out in his Overworld industrial district, and he was pretty sure he had an idea that was going to work.

Basalt was a hard block to automate. Sure, one could produce it automatically with some well-placed lava flows and ice, but harvesting it usually meant mining it by hand, and only a few people had taught themselves how to do simple actions while their minds wandered into afk trances. Usually, this problem would be solved with a TNT machine, but basalt had such a high resistance to explosions that TNT barely broke any at a time.

There was a solution, though. If a block was moving at the same time that an explosion went off, the block would briefly become extra vulnerable to the force of the blast. Mumbo had designed a machine that would be timed perfectly, so that every explosion happened at the moment that the layers of basalt were being pushed forward into the blast zone by pistons. 

He started building it a short bridge away from where he usually stood at the gold farm. Lava, blue ice, pistons, a conveyor belt made of stair blocks that he was also quite chuffed with... After the generator, he built a TNT duper just above the conveyor. He had built plenty of these before - plenty of redstoners did, usually for cobblestone or concrete. The design was standard and very specific: there were the slime blocks, there was the detector rail with a minecart on top, the cobblestone wall, and a single coral fan. No one knew what purpose the coral fan served in the design, everyone just knew it had to be there. And then, of course, the TNT in front.

Mumbo primed the machine and crossed his fingers. TNT dropped onto an obsidian block with a hiss, and blew up. None of the redstone, nor the conveyor below, was destroyed. There was still a TNT block encased in slime blocks above. Mumbo chanced a smile and set the repeater timings.

To his absolute amazement, the whole rig worked beautifully on the first try. Basalt formed from lava flows, was pushed forward, and broke as easily as if it was dirt. The conveyor belt scooted items over into storage. After a final check, Mumbo grinned, parked himself nearby, and metaphorically floated away, letting the machines do the work as he returned to imagining new and interesting things.

\-----

He was pulled back to full consciousness by his stomach growling. Chuckling slightly to himself, he turned the machine off and chewed on a golden carrot as he checked its production. Mumbo had a lot more patience for long afk trances than most, and that had gotten him into trouble occasionally. But everything turned out fine this time. He packed a shulker box full of basalt, leaving the rest for later, and went on his way.

Halfway back to the Overworld, his communicator made a quick, harsh beep, a sound designed specifically to get someone’s attention regardless of presence. This one was a reminder that Mumbo had promised to meet up with Grian today. He made a quick detour into Grian’s portal.

The two friends hung out and chatted for much of the afternoon. Until Mumbo felt a sudden, burning  _ impact _ to his chest. The next thing he knew, he was waking up back in his base after a quick, uncomfortable respawn. Thoroughly confused, Mumbo checked his communicator for answers.

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<Grian> ???

<MumboJumbo> what

<Grian> how did that even happen

<Grian> how did you die when all you were doing was standing next to me

<MumboJumbo> well it was YOU I was standing near

<Grian> fair point but also I did nothing I swear

<MumboJumbo> There wasn’t a creeper or something?

<Grian> Literally nothing

<Grian> Not even a sound

<Grian> One second you were here, the next you were a bunch of code and items flying in my face

Moments later, Grian arrived at Mumbo’s base with Mumbo’s items in a box. “So, uh,” Grian wondered, “what on  _ earth _ was that about?”

“Beats me,” Mumbo replied, taking the box and sorting through it for his tools. “That was incredibly weird. And the thing is, I don’t think the death message was wrong! It certainly felt like a block of TNT blew up in my face - there just wasn’t any TNT around.”

Grian watched Mumbo rummage around. “Hang on, hold still for a second.”

Mumbo obliged. “What’s wrong? Have I got something in my hair or something?”

Grian frowned. “No, I just thought I saw something weird. Maybe I was imagining it. It’s gone now.”

\-----

Tango checked the dispensers in his nether tree farm. Plenty of explosives for the job. Tango had never been a big fan of TNT duplication, and was especially wary around it ever since the feedback glitches had started showing themselves in his friends. He would rather just do the sand grind and use up TNT like a normal person. But today, there was no grind needed. He flipped the switch and settled in to watch the farm work.

Almost as soon as the farm started producing, Tango’s comms started going off. Repeatedly. He rolled his eyes at it at first, ignoring whatever weird crisis was happening elsewhere. 

Then he started to notice a pattern. There was chatter in between, but most of the incoming messages were death notices, and there was a rhythm to them. A rhythm that very closely synced up to the rhythm of the explosions in Tango’s tree farm. Tango curiously checked the chat.

**MumboJumbo blew up**

**MumboJumbo blew up**

**MumboJumbo blew up**

**MumboJumbo blew up**

**MumboJumbo blew up**

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<Grian> now what

**MumboJumbo blew up**

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<iskall85> u ok dude??

**MumboJumbo blew up**

**MumboJumbo blew up**

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<MumboJumbo> no

**MumboJumbo blew up**

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<Stressmonster101> wots happenin???

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<MumboJumbo> I d

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<MumboJumbo> idk

**MumboJumbo blew up**

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<joehillssays> this does not seem like a pleasant situation

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<MumboJumbo> it;sd npot

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<Grian> where’s ur bed

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<Grian> nvm found it

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<Grian> oh jeez

**MumboJumbo blew up**

**MumboJumbo blew up**

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<Xisuma> this is concerning. Grian, what’s happening?

**MumboJumbo blew up**

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<Grian> Nothing! That’s what’s weird!

**MumboJumbo blew up**

<Grian> He’s just dying in front of me

**MumboJumbo blew up**

Tango read the long and still-growing column of messages with increasing worry. He could definitely tell that a new death notice came in with every TNT he heard. There was no reason there should be a connection, but... he turned his tree farm off. Immediately, chat calmed.

<Xisuma> It stopped?

<Grian> Yeah

<Grian> still don't know how

<Tango> Crap

<Xisuma> Tango? You know what happened?

<Tango> got a good idea

<Tango> I'm omw to Mumbo, will tell you when I get there

Tango flew as quickly as he could to Mumbo's base and found Grian and Xisuma by Mumbo's bed. Mumbo was curled up on the bed, arms wrapped around himself, pale and gasping for breath. As he realized he wasn’t about to die again, he slowly started to uncurl, still staring at nothing. Tango’s sharp eyes caught a slight flicker in Mumbo’s skin, in his clothes, and he nodded grimly to himself.

“Mumbo, I am so, so sorry,” Tango blurted. Mumbo’s gaze flicked in Tango’s direction, sluggishly focusing on him.

“Sorry?” Grian echoed. “What did you do to him?”

“Nothing intentional,” Tango winced. “But I wasn’t checking chat while I was running my nether tree farm. If I’d seen what was happening sooner, it would have stopped sooner.”

“How could your tree farm have a connection to this?” Xisuma questioned.

“Because,” Tango replied, “he’s glitched.”

Xisuma’s eyes widened. Tango watched him run a scan on Mumbo. “Goodness me,” Xisuma murmured. “You’re absolutely right. It’s the feedback glitch again.”

“Like Impulse has?” Grian asked. Tango raised his eyebrows at that, before remembering that of course the two had worked together. Impulse joining the Resistance was the worst-kept secret in recent history.

“Something like that, yeah,” Xisuma explained, “but stemming from a different exploit. Something with explosions-”

“TNT duplification,” Tango interrupted. “Has to be.”

“Ahh, of course,” Xisuma agreed. “But that’s so minor, and you aren’t even close to the glitch itself because there are explosions! I wonder how this came on so fast.”

Mumbo coughed, then made an odd whine. All eyes turned toward him. So many deaths in such a short time had made an impact on the state of his mind and soul, and for the moment he was still nonverbal from the ordeal. Once he had their attention, he pointed at Tango, made a "keep going" motion, and held up two fingers.

"Two different bugs?" Grian guessed. "TNT duping and something else?"

Mumbo nodded and tried to talk again.

“Don’t hurt yourself,” Tango told him. “Just hang out for a while. Tell us whenever you feel like you can.”

“It’s getting on toward evening,” Xisuma realized. “Mumbo, would you like someone to stay the night, or would you rather-”

Mumbo made a motion as if to pull them all closer.

“Right,” Xisuma agreed. “I’ll just let everyone know not to set off any explosives for a while, and we’ll all take a rest and figure out the details in the morning.”

Mumbo lay back on his bed, and after a few restless moments, was asleep quickly. Grian pulled out his own spare bed, set it up with only a small gap between them, and fell onto it, facing Mumbo. Tango slid into a sitting position, hands resting lightly on his knees, to power down for the night. Xisuma stayed up only a little longer, to send out the message and confirm that everyone saw it.

<Xisuma> We’ve got a glitch problem, can I ask that no one blows anything up for a couple days?

<Keralis1> Sure thing!

<impulseSV> Got it

<Zedaph> not even a little bit!

<cubfan135> Roger. Does this apply to anything or only TNT?

<Docm77> okay, I’ll wait then

<cubfan135> I had some plans involving end crystals and the dragon

<iJevin> roger

<VintageBeef> Creepers too? Hard to avoid them completely

<Xisuma> Best too hold off on the end stuff for now, Cub

<Xisuma> Just do your best with the creepers

Satisfied at the response, Xisuma took out his own spare bed and went to sleep.

\-----

Somewhat early in the morning, Xisuma received a private message.

<falsesymmetry> -> <Xisuma> Sorry, I forgot for a moment we weren’t supposed to be exploding stuff

<falsesymmetry> -> <Xisuma> I set off a few excavating blasts before I realized. Hope I didn’t mess anything up

Xisuma frowned. Mumbo was still sound asleep, though Grian was stirring to wake and Tango had just become active. Nothing had happened to Mumbo in the last few hours, as far as Xisuma was aware, and the lack of death messages in the public chat confirmed this.

Tango, noticing Xisuma’s confused look, walked over to him. “What’s up?” Tango asked quietly.

Xisuma explained the situation. Tango looked thoughtful. “Mumbo mentioned a second exploit, right? Maybe there’s another layer to what’s happening to him, and it has to do with that.”

“Ah, that would make sense,” Xisuma nodded. “Very odd set of circumstances, though. If something explodes anywhere in the world, Mumbo feels it, except... when he’s sleeping?”

Xisuma sent a response to False while Tango ran through a mental checklist of glitches that could possibly be related. Suddenly, Tango slapped his leg. “He’s not moving.”

Xisuma looked up. “Pardon?”

“When you’ve got bits moving around,” Tango explained, “TNT just tears through ‘em like they’re nothing, even really tough blocks. It’s a useful trick to know and I’ll bet that now Mumbo is only vulnerable to explosions when he’s moving.”

“How peculiar,” Xisuma murmured. “Well, at least now we know that the rest of us won’t have to give up TNT completely - it’ll still be usable if Mumbo is asleep, or afk, or at the very least has good warning.”

“If Mumbo’s feeling up to it later,” Tango suggested, “it might be good to do some other tests, too. Explosion source, distance from it, that kind of thing. Only if Mumbo’s okay with that though, of course.”

\-----

Mumbo stayed sound asleep for most of that day, only awakening briefly in late afternoon, accepting a few proffered golden carrots, and going to sleep again. The others, meanwhile, talked about the glitch problem, brainstormed ideas for tests that would - if Mumbo agreed to them - be as un-traumatizing as possible, and decided it was best to tell the rest of the hermits what was happening in as much detail as they knew.

Another night passed, and the next morning, Mumbo woke feeling much better, though far from tip-top shape. Xisuma and Tango told him their findings. Mumbo, unsurprisingly, did not particularly want to start getting blown up again any time soon, but he saw the value in knowing the extent of his glitch, and promised that he would let them know as soon as he felt like he could get through their test ideas.

Eventually, through intentional tests and the occasional slip-up, they learned that Mumbo was only glitched around TNT, and no other explosives. If he could stay perfectly unmoving while one was detonated, he was fine, but Mumbo tended to fidget, and even that was enough to activate the glitch behavior. Instead, he relied on trying to slip into an afk trance to still his body, or ducking through the nearest Nether portal, as he couldn’t be affected if he was in another dimension. Cub could do his project without worrying about hurting Mumbo with it. Cub, it seemed, had other things to worry about, though...


End file.
